College professors in California and across the country are using a new smart phone application to learn more about how their students view the debates.

The app is called ReactLabs Educate and allows viewers to
say whether they agree or disagree with a candidate's statement,
and then say if they consider the statement to be a "dodge" or
"spin."

Matthew Pitryka with UC Davis is a co-creator of the
app, "Campaign managers have been doing this for years, but
academics haven't been able to profit from this type of focused
analysis."

The app was used by three thousand college students during the
first presidential debate and will be used again by students at
Sacramento State during the vice presidential debate tonight
(Thursday).

One of the initial findings from last week's debate has given
researchers pause. Students agreed with President Obama's
statements much more than they did Mitt Romney's. But, when
it was all over, more than half of the students considered Romney
to be the winner of the debate.

UC Davis and the University of Arkansas Little Rock collaborated
on the application.